Privacy Policy
1. Data Controller
InfoUK.org is the data controller for personal data collected through this website. We are an independent publisher, not affiliated with any government body.
Contact for privacy matters: contact@infouk.org
2. What We Collect
Information you give us directly:
- Email address and (optional) first name when you subscribe to our newsletter or request the free travel handbook
- Name, email address and message content when you use our contact form
- Any information you voluntarily share in correspondence with us
Information collected automatically — only with your consent:
- Anonymised usage analytics (page views, time on page, country-level location) via Google Analytics — only if you accept analytics cookies
- Advertising and conversion data — only if you accept advertising cookies
- Standard server access logs (IP address truncated, retained 30 days for security)
We do not use behavioural advertising, fingerprinting, or share data with data brokers.
3. How We Use Information
- To send the content you requested (newsletter, free handbook)
- To send periodic travel updates — only with your consent, opt out anytime via the unsubscribe link
- To respond to contact form enquiries
- To improve our website via anonymised analytics
- To detect abuse, spam and security threats
- To comply with legal obligations
Lawful bases under UK GDPR: consent (newsletter, analytics, ads), legitimate interest (security logs, fraud prevention), legal obligation (responding to lawful requests).
We never sell, rent or share your personal data with third parties for their own marketing purposes.
4. Cookies & Tracking
We use three categories of cookies:
- Necessary cookies — required for the site to function. Always on. Cannot be disabled.
- Analytics cookies — anonymised Google Analytics. Off by default. Enabled only with your explicit consent.
- Advertising cookies — for personalised ads and measurement. Off by default. Enabled only with your explicit consent.
We use Google Consent Mode v2 with a default-denied posture in the UK, EEA and Switzerland — meaning Google tags are loaded but receive no personal data until you explicitly opt in.
You can change your cookie choices at any time by clicking "Cookie Settings" in the footer of any page, or by clicking here to reopen the cookie banner.
5. Affiliate Links & Third Parties
This site contains affiliate links to SafetyWing, Airalo, Holafly, Wise, Revolut, NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Booking.com, Airbnb, GetYourGuide, Viator, Skyscanner, Kiwi.com and Babbel. When you click an affiliate link, the partner may set their own cookies according to their own privacy policy.
Other third-party services that may receive data — only with your consent — include Google Analytics, Google Ads, embedded YouTube videos and embedded social-media widgets.
See our Affiliate Disclosure for full details.
6. Your Rights (UK GDPR, EU GDPR & CCPA)
You have the right to:
- Access — request a copy of personal data we hold about you
- Rectification — correct inaccurate or incomplete data
- Erasure ("right to be forgotten") — request deletion of your data
- Restriction — limit how we process your data
- Portability — receive your data in a machine-readable format
- Object — to processing based on legitimate interest
- Withdraw consent — at any time, without affecting processing already done
- CCPA (California residents) — right to know, right to delete, right to opt-out of sale of personal information (we do not sell personal information)
To exercise these rights, email contact@infouk.org. We will respond within 30 days as required by UK/EU GDPR (or 45 days under CCPA). We may ask you to verify your identity to protect your data.
7. Right to Lodge a Complaint
If you believe we have not handled your personal data correctly, you have the right under Article 77 of the UK GDPR / EU GDPR to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority:
- UK: Information Commissioner\'s Office (ICO) — ico.org.uk
- EU/EEA: the data protection authority of your country — see edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/about-edpb/members_en
- California: California Attorney General — oag.ca.gov/privacy
We would prefer to address your concerns directly first — please contact us before escalating where possible.
8. Data Retention
- Newsletter subscribers: retained until you unsubscribe
- Contact form messages: up to 12 months, then deleted
- Server access logs: 30 days
- Analytics data: retained per Google Analytics configured retention (max 14 months)
- Backups: rolling 30-day window
9. Children
Under Article 8 of UK GDPR / EU GDPR, we do not knowingly collect personal data from children under the age of 16 (or under 13 in the United States, per COPPA). Our content is intended for adult travelers and expats.
If you are under 16 (or under 13 in the US), please do not submit personal information through this site. If you believe a child has submitted personal information to us, please contact contact@infouk.org and we will delete it promptly.
10. Contact
For all privacy questions, requests or complaints:
We reply within 3 business days for general queries, and within 30 days for formal data subject rights requests.
Who we are
Suggested text: Our website address is: https://infouk.org.
Comments
Suggested text: When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Media
Suggested text: If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
Cookies
Suggested text: If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select "Remember Me", your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
Embedded content from other websites
Suggested text: Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Who we share your data with
Suggested text: If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.
How long we retain your data
Suggested text: If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
What rights you have over your data
Suggested text: If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Where your data is sent
Suggested text: Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.